Officials with the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind improperly charged nearly $10,000 in excessive lodging, transportation, meals and other expenses over more than two years.

Most of the charges were made by Superintendent Robert Hill, between July 1, 2010 and March 31, a new state audit concluded.

Of the agency’s 76 payments for Hill’s travel, auditors identified 73 payments had inadequate documentation to verify it complied with state policies.

Hill was placed on leave in late October, according to documents on the schools’ website. He was unavailable for comment, a school employee told The Arizona Republic.

The Office of the Auditor General recommended the schools research past charges “and seek legal counsel to help identify and collect any required reimbursements.” Auditors also suggested schools officials improve travel planning, train employees on state policies and have expenses approved by an official with expertise on the policies.

In a letter Tuesday to Auditor General Debra Davenport, schools Assistant Superintendent William Koehler said he agreed with the findings. Koehler did not return a call seeking comment.

The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind is a state agency overseen by a board of directors appointed by the Governor’s Office.

The audit comes during a tumultuous time for the agency, which serves about 2,200 students from preschool to high school and has campuses in Phoenix and Tuscon, as well as other programs. Hill has faced accusations of sexual harassment, disability discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation.

The issues have in recent months thrown the school system into disarray, drawing in the governing board, several state agencies and Gov. Jan Brewer.

Auditors found $4,023 in excessive lodging costs, including one instance in which Hill stayed an extra night in Hawaii and spent another night in Phoenix upon returning from the islands at an additional cost to the schools of $277.

The lodging was tied to Hill’s attendance at the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf but auditors determined a “legitimate state business purpose” for the additional travel days in Hawaii and Phoenix was not well documented and violated state travel policy.

The audit found the schools “often” paid for lodging in excess of maximum daily rates without documenting legitimate reasons for doing so.

The schools also paid for $3,825 in “unnecessary transportation costs” that violated state policy. Auditors found the school “often paid for car rentals and taxi fares” even though the hotel or conference offered free shuttles or cheaper transportation to and from the airport, hotel and conference center.

In one instance, Hill attended a conference in Austin and was reimbursed $315 for renting a car and $60 for parking fees “when the conference center, hotel and restaurants were within easy walking distance from one another,” the report said. Auditors also found the schools paid extra money to travel to restaurants even though meals were available at the hotel or conference center.

And the schools should not have paid for some of those meals, the report concluded. Auditors found $755 in ineligible meals between July 1, 2010, and March 31 of this year.

The schools often picked up meal costs when a conference or hotel included meals at no additional charge.

Auditors also found $1,023 in “other” travel costs that violated the state’s travel policy. The schools paid $550 in late registration fees for one conference, for example, and reimbursed employees for fuel purchases even through the state’s fuel card was available.

Brewer’s spokesman, Andrew Wilder, said the governor hopes all students have the resources to graduate with skills to succeed.

“Achieving that requires school resources to be spent appropriately,” Wilder wrote in an e-mail.

“Consequently, we share the concern over excessive and non-compliant costs to the school and we support efforts to seek reimbursement.”

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